What’s Going Around: Strep throat, flu, allergies

The providers at UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics in York and Spring Grove are continuing to see the flu this week. They are also seeing strep throat.

This week, Penn State Health pediatricians are still seeing a few respiratory illnesses, including the flu and COVID. They are also seeing strep throat, ear infections, allergies and common colds.

Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Physicians Roseville Pediatrics reports a lot of strep throat this week. They saw a decrease in flu, although they still diagnosed multiple cases.

They saw a steady rise in seasonal allergies and ongoing pink eye.

Dr. Joan Thode offered the following advice about seasonal allergies:

“Seasonal allergies occur due to the release of histamine, a chemical that aids the immune system in its job. In the case of seasonal allergies, a high amount of histamine is released into the bloodstream, which causes the symptoms of runny nose; congestion; itchy, watery eyes; and sneezing.

Anti-histamine medications work by preventing histamine from bonding to histamine receptors in the body, which keeps symptoms from occurring. These medications are designed to be taken daily to maintain a constant state of histamine control. There are also antihistamine eye drops for eye symptoms that persist despite the oral antihistamine. Nasal sprays do not affect histamine, but rather calm the immune system reaction in the nose to help decrease congestion related to allergies. If your child has a known history of seasonal allergies, it’s not too soon to start the antihistamine medication regimen.

For kids with asthma, this can be a particularly scary time. If your asthmatic child has prescribed daily inhalers, it’s important to take them consistently according to the prescribed dosing instructions. For all asthmatics, regardless of whether their symptoms are persistent vs. intermittent, their need for the rescue albuterol inhaler should be closely watched. Frequent need for the rescue inhaler or failure of their respiratory symptoms to respond to the albuterol are reasons to call your child’s pediatrician.”

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